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Kris\Slyka

finally, analogue CDs

wii shop theme remix by @miunau

131 comments
F4GRX Sébastien

@slyka @miunau OH MY DOG THIS IS AMAZING! Quality is excellent!

Michael Carroll

@slyka @miunau putting the warmth back into a burnt cd

Bebef 🦦🇪🇺🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🚙🐼🥦🚩🏴

@slyka @miunau That's too analouge. I mean, not even a laser involved, so it's just a CD shaped record.

You want analouge "CD"? Go for LaserDisk! Analouge data, but readout with a laser! Pew pew! :D

Bit_form

@slyka @miunau I like this. But I have a few questions.

1.does it still read in a pc?

2. Doesn't the engraving arm have to much limited movement because of its size not letting it get closer to the middle/end of the disk?

Kris\Slyka

@Bit_form CDs read from the inside out, so yes, theoretically that works as long as there is no data in the part that has the grooves.
Cutting into a CD is mostly a gimmick and is basically already beyond the inner limit for what's on spec for a real vinyl record. My automatic turn table won't even play these cause it thinks it's already beyond the edge of the record and immediately stops…

Christian Stankowic

@slyka Wow, those LifeTec/Tevion CD brings back many memories. Awesome work!

Cavyherd

@uint8_t @slyka @miunau

Yeah, that was what I was thinking: A side for digial, B side for analog. I mean, aside from the whole diameter thing, of course.

Flip-side (heh): haven't they also come up with optical readers for vinyl? Expensive af, iirc, but it's a thing?

Kris\Slyka

@cavyherd @uint8_t pretty hard to do with a regular CD cause the aluminium coating is directly on the top, together with the laquer and printing, Would probably work better with a double sided DVD since they have the aluminium coating sandwiched on the inside

Cavyherd

@slyka @uint8_t

I thought the aluminum coating was *inside* the plastic shell? Maybe it's the double-sided ones I'm thinking of. (It may be apparent that I've never looked closely at CDs.)

Kris\Slyka

@cavyherd for a CD the coating is on top, covered by a thin layer of lacquer. For DVD's it's sandwiched between two thin plastic disks

Cavyherd

@slyka

Oh how interesting! I hadn't realized there was any structural difference at all.

keirFox

@cavyherd Used to be a long time ago! But then it was cheaper to not double-side it.

Z̈oé

@cavyherd @slyka @miunau there are of course laser readers for vinyl discs. the issue with it is dust; the needle can remove some dust from the groove, laser can only do it at significantly higher power levels 😉

Cavyherd

@uint8_t @slyka @miunau

Oh. Dust. Right. Which tend to, uh, alter the vinyl, ahem. Interesting. I would expect some degree of algorithmic correction could address that?

Probably too late in the game/too low volume to be worth it, but I'm a little surpised no one's come up with non-static vinyl.

Saxicola ✅ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇪🇺

@cavyherd @uint8_t @slyka @miunau
Dust? You just need a huge noisy compressor, some tubing and a jet just before the laser to clean the groove. Add some water with surficant to the air jet too, perfect.

Cavyherd

@saxicola @uint8_t @slyka @miunau

😂 👍

Or just vacuum pack the whole business.

Kris\Slyka

@mdione my favourite!

real talk though, the whole inspiration behind the machine is to make small runs of bioplastic based records that don't involve the general nastyness of traditional PVC based records

sofia ☮️🏴

@slyka huh, since CDs are written inside out but LPs are written outside in, hybrid disks seems pretty feasable 🤔.

Chris

@sofia
@slyka
How deep is the cut? If it is less than half of the disc, a hybrid LP/DVD|BluRay is trivial. Just turn it over.

Kris\Slyka

@xris @sofia the groove is around 25 µm deep, so way way less than half the thickness of the disk

@pndc

@slyka @miunau Having had to grub through the Red Book standard, what I see is an analogue format which just happens to use PCM rather than the depth of a groove. I offer as evidence subchannel P, which is equivalent to the shiny bit between tracks on a record, and seeking being a case of guesstimating the position and dropping the needle/laser and just playing whatever is there.

CD-ROM had to do quite a lot more work than you might expect to turn this unholy digital/analogue hybrid into a proper block device suitable for data storage.

@slyka @miunau Having had to grub through the Red Book standard, what I see is an analogue format which just happens to use PCM rather than the depth of a groove. I offer as evidence subchannel P, which is equivalent to the shiny bit between tracks on a record, and seeking being a case of guesstimating the position and dropping the needle/laser and just playing whatever is there.

James

@slyka @miunau
Atomic turbines to speed.
Set Revolutions.
Bringing the gantry online.
Charge capacitors.

Kh0lah

@slyka @miunau

Awesome, would be really useful to re-use CDs as dubplates.
Is there any place where you present this work so one can try to replicate it?

Kris\Slyka

@kholah currently scrambling to finish up this quick and dirty version of the record lathe to make a run of custom records for an exhibition in september, after things have calmed down a little and I've had some time to finish it up there will be a proper release with some blog posts on the tech and a youtube video probably. Whole thing is gonna be open source, all CAD models, the custom USB audio interface and DSP board and accompanying control software.

Also, CDs make for cool videos but awful dubplates…

@kholah currently scrambling to finish up this quick and dirty version of the record lathe to make a run of custom records for an exhibition in september, after things have calmed down a little and I've had some time to finish it up there will be a proper release with some blog posts on the tech and a youtube video probably. Whole thing is gonna be open source, all CAD models, the custom USB audio interface and DSP board and accompanying control software.

Kh0lah

@slyka

Thanks for the #datalove.

I was thinking of experimenting it with hackerspaces who already try weird stuff with audio and sounds, so awful can turn out interesting anyway 😅

Neko the gamer

@slyka @miunau HOLY SHIT YOU HAVE A LACQUER CUTTER?!??!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?????!??????????????????????????!!?!?!?!

you have a new follower :neofox_aww:

Dave/Loebas :verified_pride:

@slyka @miunau This would be a nice way to make CD singles that can play in both a CD player, and a recordplayer.

kolya

@slyka @miunau watching that arm move out of view was the longest minute

Kris\Slyka

@revk CDs play from the inside out, so yeah, as long as there isn't any data in the area with the grooves

Григорий Клюшников

RevK, it should, in theory, because CDs are recorded from the center out

fab 🐘

@slyka @miunau Am I the only one how isn't able to watch the whole video, because when I touch the screen the Alt Text appears and won't go away? If I don't touch it, the screensaver kicks in before the end. 🫣

Manawyrm | Sarah

@slyka @miunau _excellent_ work! i'm impressed by the quality!

Leeloo

@slyka @miunau
Try with a pressed CD. The data is a thin aliminium layer right under the label, so cutting the shiny side should not get anywhere near the aluminium layer.

CD players were always promised to be able to ignore scratches, I wonder if they are able to read through this intentional scratch.

Kris\Slyka

@leeloo but… that's exactly what I did in the video? Wether or not the it's a CD-R or a normal CD makes no difference in the layer stackup :blobfoxconfused:

Leeloo

@slyka
I was not aware of the layering of CDRs.

So, did it play in a CD player? Was it able to ignore the "scratch"?

Kris\Slyka

@leeloo I don't have anything to read CDs with anymore, but I doubt it. Even though there is some amount of error correction in CDs this basically completely covers a continuous section of the surface in relatively deep scratches

Leeloo

@slyka
But the claim is that the laser is not focusing on the scratch, so it should be able to look right past it.

Kris\Slyka

@leeloo it's still an interface between two materials with different refractive indexes, which due to the grooves ends up at pretty steep angles. That's gonna refract the light all over the place wether it's focused on the interface or not. I'd love to be proven wrong but I don't really see that working too well

Leeloo

@slyka
I know, that's why I would like to see the results.

I'll be impressed if it can play, but might also say something about false advertising if it doesn't.

Alan Miller :verified_paw:

@leeloo @slyka a CD player would work for discs with low amounts of data because the central part of the disc isn't affected. The cut part would almost certainly be unreadable because of what's basically a diffraction grating cut into it.

Kat

@slyka Everybody who refers to CDs as "analogue" needs to be made to sit down and watch this.
@miunau

AppleWoi

@slyka @miunau

The material for analogue records is made from #vinyl for a reason. The addition of conductive carbon makes this material less prone to static noise caused by the needle running in the groove. However there are new developments like PET, but these are still expensive in the making.

I still use a liquid with alcohol in a Lenco brush. Results in low noise playback and longer life of the precious diamonds.

PaulNickson

@slyka @miunau I thought CD tracks ran from the inside to the outside at higher revs than this (for constant velocity).

Stephen Early

@PaulNickson @slyka @miunau It would be cool if the analogue groove was cut on top of the original CD track (yes, from the inside out at CV) — but I think the original CD track would be too narrow.

Dark Sage Torunka :verified:

@slyka @miunau Dumb question: can you burn data through the etched part of the disc?

Quinn Comendant

@slyka @miunau This is so fucking cool!

I love the suspense as the cutting arm slooowly moves in to do its thing.

doragasu

@slyka I am double impressed now that I have seen you have done the design in FreeCAD. Each time I try doing something of minimal complexity on FreeCAD I end up badly swearing (yeah, maybe I'm dumb 😅)

Kris\Slyka

@doragasu oh believe me, there was a lot of fucking swearing

sometimes you gotta suffer for your freedom, or something

Robbie 🇧🇪 :tux:

@slyka
Cd's play from the inside edge to the outside edge. This seems like it's a fake player because it doesn't do that.
Edit: I just read the image description which explains what is actually happening. It's using the cd platter as a generic recording medium to etch a groove which can then be played back with a record player. Now it makes sense.
@miunau

Григорий Клюшников

I first thought it's going to be some contraption that optically records an analog audio signal onto a CD the same way video is recorded on LaserDiscs

Lentävä Kalakukko

@slyka @miunau A rare case of the alt text ruining accessibility. Can't do anything with the video controls. 🙁

A screenshot of the original video, with its alt text hiding the video controls, making them inaccessible.
Piotr Machacz

@slyka Thank you for that detailed video description, I had no idea the platters on record cutters were thicker and made of concrete. Also wow you can really clearly hear the audio being cut.

Kris\Slyka

@pitermach well, they're not all made of concrete, but mine is. It's just the easiest and cheapest way to make something big and heavy in a custom shape. The old Neumann lathes had huge cast iron platters but that's kinda hard to DIY…

Patrick Perdue

@slyka Fantastic description. Much appreciated.

Zerodime

@slyka @miunau To be fair though, nothing about this feels "analogue", cool yes, but analogue? ^^'

Kris\Slyka

@zerodime @miunau damn, I must have one of those digital record players then…

Dave

@slyka @miunau Wow! Do ya think the 45 wii make a come back?

A new purpose for all those unsolicited AOL CDs I used to get thru the mail!

Andrew

@slyka @miunau amazing to think this is how boomers had to stream music. Seems like such a hassle

SnyperWolf

@slyka @miunau It really is a warmer sound than traditional vinyl!

Kris\Slyka

@simon well I think it's pretty cool. but I might be biased

echopapa ☑️

@slyka

@miunau @lisamelton

Mhm, probably much more durable than burnt CDs for archiving purposes 😀

Alan Miller :verified_paw:

@slyka @miunau does the difference in material hardness make a significant difference?

Edit even before tooting: 🤯 looking up material hardness brought me to a fascinating read on styli where I learned that at the high end they're made *with the direction of the crystal structure of the diamond factored in*. thevinylpress.com/the-finish-l

Kris\Slyka

@fencepost difference between what? PVC and PC? Idunno… PC is softer, but really tough. It does flow under high pressure, which is why it makes for good blanks for this specific process where instead of cutting a grove it's just embossed into the disk

Alan Miller :verified_paw:

@slyka I actually would have thought the polycarbonate CD was harder

Dio9sys

@slyka @miunau new frontiers in hiding a track in a new album

chexum

@slyka you can put songs on CD’s now?

Eli the Bearded

@slyka @miunau

Since CDs write center to outer edge, and records edge to center, you can mix-mode these.

Kris\Slyka

@teajaygrey you mean the lathe I used to make the parts? Or the model of the record lathe? I designed and built that myself from scratch

ティージェーグレェ

@slyka I was thinking the record lathe.

If it's custom, even cooler!

Andrew

@slyka @miunau I know it isn't a floppy disk, but I'm sure that @foone would be into this.

Timothy Wynn

@slyka @miunau Wow. Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into the thoughtful video description. Was able to follow the entire process with both that and the audio cues. Kudos!

Kris\Slyka

@lutzray are they? unless I read the specs wrong the right channel is cut on the top-left to bottom-right axis and the left channel is cut on the top-right to bottom-left axis

Les capsules du prof Lutz

@slyka sorry, it was tongue in cheek 😏 ... In your (cool!) video, the letter R was on the left and the letter L was on the right.

Kris\Slyka

@th it should but I'd feel bad about ruining one

ティージェーグレェ

@th LaserDiscs/DiscoVision are already analogue*. ;)

@slyka @miunau

*if you ignore how mid 1980s and later LaserDiscs had digital PCM audio and even encode AC3 and other surround sound digital audio e.g. DTS (typically in the left channel analogue audio track which would sound like static if you, like I, had the misfortune to own a LaserDisc player so old, it didn't support any of the digital audio standards).

Might be a useful way to repurpose LDs which suffered from laserot?

keirFox

@slyka It’s so beautiful. Congrats, yeen — that is a hell of a lot of work you put in and the results are freaking incredible!

keirFox

@slyka Damn I have serious creator envy. You did a fantastic job with this project.

Kris\Slyka

@keirFox thanks! This has been the last three years of my life more or less and it's incredible to finally see it come together

Scaaaary Badger 🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦

@slyka @miunau @amiserabilist Surprised it works because polycarbonate is so hard and brittle compared to vinyl.

Jonas

@slyka
I had the same idea last decade but with busted 12" Laserdiscs, happy to see someone more knowledgeable than me going all the way through this project! Is that something mere mortals like me can reproduce? Is there plans somewhere?
@miunau

Kris\Slyka

@magnetic_tape The whole thing is gonna be open source once I'm done enough with it. CAD, software, firmware, PCBs, etc

Christian Berger DECT 2763

@slyka @miunau Nifty cutting a record groove onto a CD, but actual analog CDs existed for quite a while in the form of LaserDiscs. They had FM modulated audio (and video) on them.

Slatian

@slyka Wow :drgn_notice:

Now, how about using that to store some digital data again :drgn_mlem:

int%rmitt]nt sig^al. ...~!...)

@slyka @miunau
Minds me of my single sided 78 RPM phonograph disks that my grandad left me.

Mike Johnston

@slyka
Pu-pu-put a laserdisc in it hnnng 🥵
@miunau@meow.social

TomKrajci 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

@slyka @miunau

Great work!

It sort of reminds of one of the first scenes of the Russian movie Стиляги (2008) that shows how they made bootleg copies of records...using X-Ray film base:

youtube.com/watch?v=UavmKtLIV3

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilyagi

Bill Plein🌶

@slyka @spacehobo @miunau “It sounds warmer than the original” 🤣

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